Golf club grips commonly include a reminder rib to help a player properly orient his or her hands on the club. A rib can be either placed against the palm or fingers (e.g., index finger, thumb, or some other finger). By using a reminder rib a person can train himself to have a neutral address position, meaning that a golf club is held at a neutral angle relative to a golf ball. With this orientation, the ball is more likely to fly straight as opposed to curving in one direction or the other when the club face is “open” or “closed.” Alternatively, a reminder rib can serve as a reference for golfers who deliberately choose to open or close the club face to compensate for his/her swing, golf course layout, weather, or other factors. For example, a club with a deliberately closed face could assist players in hitting the ball to the left side of the fairway from the player's point of view, or reducing slicing. Additionally, an open face would tend to help a player to hit high cut shots, eliminate hook shots caused by an outside-in swing (e.g., the player bringing the club closer to the player's body through the course of the swing), or keeping the ball on the right side of the fairway instead of the left side of the fairway from the player's point of view. By adjusting whether the club face is open or closed, the player can change the ball flight trajectory or compensate for a tendency to hit to the left side or right side of the fairway or green.
Additionally, a closed face on a golf club would tend to generate a lower flight trajectory which could be desirable if there was a strong wind. This lower trajectory also causes the golf ball to roll more once it lands on the fairway or green. By contrast, an open faced golf club generally causes the ball to fly higher. This higher trajectory can cause the ball to roll less once it lands, thus enabling a player to “place” the golf ball on the fairway or green.
US Patent App. No. 2006/0068148 A1 to Ulrich discloses a method of forming a reminder rib in a grip, wherein an adhesive strip is placed between the grip and golf club shaft. One drawback of this approach is that it is very difficult to change the position or shape of the reminder rib without re-gripping the club because the rib is adhered to the shaft.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,511,386 to Cacicedo discloses a golf club grip having one or more pre-bored and pre-shaped holes configured to accept a stiffening rod. This grip has the drawback of only accepting rods of a given shape in a limited number of incrementally separated positions.
The present disclosure is aimed at resolving these and other associated problems known to those skilled in the art.